US3421725A

US3421725A - Ski bracket or the like

Info

Publication number: US3421725A
Application number: US673073A
Authority: US
Inventors: David E Glass
Original assignee: SHELBOURNE IND Inc
Current assignee: Shelburne Corp; SHELBOURNE IND Inc
Priority date: 1967-10-05
Filing date: 1967-10-05
Publication date: 1969-01-14
Anticipated expiration: 1986-01-14

Description

Jan. 14, 1969 E, GLASS SKI BRACKET OR THE LIKE Filed Oct. 5. 1967 INVENTOR .DflV/O 5. 42,455 ,W 42 a M ATTORNEY United States Patent 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention contemplates a hooked bracket designed to hold a pair of skis in position, face-tO-face, close to a wall or other vertical support. The device takes advantage of the natural inclination of skis standing close against a wall to fall away from the wall, by gravitational pull, if

angled slightly away from the wall at the top. An auxili- I ary hook is provided for hanging ski poles, parka, gloves or other gear from the same bracket, in non-fouling re lation with the pair of retained skis, and without requiring additional wall space beyond that desirably provided for the basic ski-hook feature alone.

My invention relates to a mounting bracket construction particularly adapted to removably hold elongated articles, such as skis, in upright position against a wall or other vertical reference.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved device of the character indicated.

A specific object is to provide a ski-retaining device of elemental simplicity, lending itself to the orderly, compact and removable retention of skis and associated gear.

A general object is to meet the foregoing objects with a device which is inexpensive to manufacture and efficient in its accommodation of skis of various sizes, and which involves a minimum number of parts, none of which is movable.

Other objects and various further features of novelty and invention will be pointed out or will occur to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following specifi cation in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In said drawings, which show, for illustrative purposes only, a preferred form of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a view in front elevation showing a wall to which a plurality of brackets of the invention have been mounted;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view in perspective of the bracket construction of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of a bracket of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the device shown in FIG. 3.

Briefly stated, the invention contemplates a hooked bracket designed to hold a pair of skis in position, faceto-face, close to a wall or other vertical support. The device takes advantage of the natural inclination of skis standing close against a wall to fall away from the wall, by gravitational pull, if angled slightly away from the wall at the top. An auxiliary hook is provided for hanging ski poles, parka, gloves or other gear from the same bracket, in non-fouling relation with the pair of retained skis, and without requiring additional wall space beyond that desirably provided for the basic ski-hook feature alone.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the invention is shown in an application to a plurality of unithandling ski hooks or brackets of the invention secured in laterally spaced relation to a single mounting board or panel 11 forming part of an upright wall 12 against which plural pairs of skis 13-14 are removably retained. The bottoms of the skis rest on a shelf or floor member 15, and each pair of skis is shown in bottom-tobottom abutment, as is customary in the handling of matched skis. The elevation of the mounting 11 for brackets 10 is shown at a height above member 15 to permit accommodation of upper ends of a variety of ski sizes, such as the longer skis 13 and the shorter skis 14, being in both instances intermediate the boot-harness and curved-tip locations of the skis.

My hook or bracket structure 10 may be described as rigid, unitary and generally triangular, with a flat base along one side, for mounting purposes. The general plane of the triangle is substantially perpendicular to that of the base, so that a braced suspension is available for a ski hook at or near the outwardly extended limit. The hook is horizontally offset from the generally vertical plane of the triangle and has a free end extending toward but short of the plane of the base.

In the preferred form shown, the hook or bracket structure 10 comprises essentially a single piece of heavy stiff wire bent to define the ski-hook end 16 and the ski-pole end 17, as well as the triangular and mounting elements.

This single wire may thus include a generally central upright mounting portion 20 forming one leg of the triangle and shown secured, as by welding 21 to a base plate 22 having apertures for screw-mounting at 23 to the wall panel 11.

The ski-hook end 16 may be formed at one end of the Wire as part of an upper arm or leg 24, and the auxiliary hook 17 for poles, parka, etc. may be formed at the other end of the wire, as part of a lower arm or leg 25. Both arms or legs 24-25 extend away from the vertical support plane of base 22, and they may 'be secured by weldment 26 at their convergence. Both hook ends 16 may thus be seen to be connected to the outer projecting end of the support triangle defined by legs 20-24-25.

As will appear from the perspective of FIG. 2, the described structure provides clearance between the hook end 16 and the support plane of the base, so that a single ski or a pair of skis may be positioned behind the hook 16, as approached from the open lateral side of the hook offset A. Once positioned behind the book 16, the skis 14 are tilted forward (about the fulcrum provided by their heel ends resting on floor member 15) until positively located within the offset A, as suggested by phantom outlines 14 in FIG. 3.

The extent of this offset A is preferably in excess of the combined thickness B of a pair of conventional skis; also, for best retention against misalignment of an inserted pair of skis 14, the offset A should 'be at least no greater than one-half the width W of a standard ski. The free end of hook 16 projects toward base 20 with a clearance C which exceeds the width W of a standard ski, and the effective inward projection D of hook 16 is preferably between one-half and a full width W of a standard ski. In its specific presently preferred form, the offset A is 1% inches, the clearance C is 4 inches and the projection D is 3 inches.

To prevent marring of skis and other gear retained by my device I prefer that it be coated with suitable protective plastic, suggested by sheathing 28 in FIG. 3. For added protection further plastic caps 29-30 are secured to the free ends of the hooks or projections 16-17.

It will be seen that I have provided a simple and novel ski hook meeting the foregoing objects. There are no moving parts, yet adequate provision is made for each device 10 to accommodate not only the skis but also the poles and clothing of each user. The arrangement is such that the last-needed article, namely, the skis, for any particular customer are reached last, i.e., after clothing has been donned and poles, etc. collected. Moreover, the forward projection of the auxiliary hook 17, in relation to the retained inclination of skis 14 means that bottoms of ski poles are necessarily kept from'fouling relation with skis, and the users clothing can be the means whereby hung articles are displayed for ready recognition, thus avoiding confusion in relocating ones gear.

While the invention has been described in detail for the preferred form shown, it will be undersood that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. A bracket for removable retention of upright skis or the like in a predetermined position of offset from a Wall or other vertically extending reference, comprising a single elongated piece of bent stiff wire having a gen erally central mounting portion, a mounting plate secured to said mounting portion for the generally vertical orientation of said central mounting portion, a first arm integral with one end of said piece and including a main stem extending away from said mounting plate at one end of said mounting portion, said first arm being bent at its outer extent to form a generally J-shape with a relatively short arm extending back toward but short of said mounting plate and in horizontally offset relation to said main stem, and a second arm integral with the other end of said piece and including a main stem extending away from said mounting plate at the other end of said mounting portion, said main stems converging toward each other as they extend away from said plate, and said main stems being rigidly secured to each other at the location of their convergence, thereby defining a rigid vertically oriented triangular bracket support for said relatively short arm, the extent of said short arm exceeding said horizontal offset, and the clearance between said short arm and said mounting plate exceeding the extent of said short arm.

2. The bracket of claim 1, in which said second arm extends beyond the location of securement to said first arm, thereby providing a hook for clothes, ski-poles or the like.

3. The bracket of claim 1, in which said one end of said wire is capped with a protective plastic or the like tip.

4. The bracket of claim 2, in which each end of said wire is capped with a protective plastic or the like tip.

5. The bracket of claim 1, in which welding secures said stems at convergence and said mounting portion to said plate.

6. A generally triangular rigid bracket formed from relatively stiff wire, comprising a first elongated leg adapted for mounting generally vertically against a supporting wall or the like, second and third elongated legs extending respectively from the upper and lower ends of said first leg and connected to each other of a convergence location spaced from said mounting leg, and a fourth leg connected to said second and third legs near their convergence and comprising a hook horizontally offset from the generally vertical plane of said first three legs, said hook having a free end extending toward but short of the plane of the supporting wall or the like, the

extent of said free hook end exceeding "said horizontal offset, and the clearance between said free end and the supporting Wall or the like exceeding the extent of said free hook end.

7. The bracket of claim 6 in which the extent of said horizontal offset exceeds the combined thickness of a pair of clamped skis at the location of their support by said bracket.

8. The bracket of claim 7, in which said offset is less than one-half the width of one of the skis.

9. The bracket of claim 6, in which the effective extent of said free hook end is greater than one-half the width of a ski at the location of support by said bracket, and in which the clearance between said free hook end and the supporting wall or the like exceeds the width of the ski.

10. A rigid ski bracket, comprising a metal triangle with a flat base at one side thereof for mounting against a supporting vertical wall or the like with the plane of the triangle generally vertical and substantially perpendicular to the plane of said base, and a ski-retaining hook rigidly connected to said triangle near the outwardly extending limit thereof, said hook being horizontally offset from the generally vertical plane of said triangle and having a free end extending toward but short of the plane of said base, the extent of said free hook end exceeding said horizontal offset, and the clearance between said free end and the supporting wall or the like exceeding the extent of the free hook end.

11. A ski-retaining device, comprising a rigid unitary generally triangular bracket with a flat base along one side thereof for mounting against a supporting vertical wall or the like with the plane of the triangle generally vertical and substantially perpendicular to the plane of said base, and a ski-retaining hook rigidly connected to said bracket near the outwardly extending limit thereof, said hook being laterally offset from said generally vertical plane and having a free end extending toward but short of the plane of said base, the extent of said free hook end exceeding said lateral offset, and the clearance between said free end and the supporting wall or the like exceeding the extent of the free hook end.

- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,877,971 3/ 1959 Goldstein 248302 2,956,812 10/1960 Lundquist 28011.37 3,277,676 10/1966 Poehlmann et al. 2116C 3,330,573 7/1967 Sieloff 280-1137 FOREIGN PATENTS 198,751 9/1938 Switzerland. 411,268 11/1966 Switzerland.

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

J FRANKLIN FOSS, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.